I have 5 different Apple Passwords - I want only ONE!

Please do not change passwords for the time being as it sounds to me that you have 2 Apple accounts.

The first account is the principal one (the one you see in System Settings > [your name], right below your icon and name). This account is used for iCloud services such as synchronizing your data amongst your devices, or to access iCloud.com, or to access accounts.apple.com.

The second account is the one you use for your purchases. As I mentioned before, the purchasing account is usually the same as your principal account but it does not have to be this way. You can have a separate account for your purchases. To see this account, go to System Settings > [your name] > Media & Purchases and click the Manage button next to your name. If you see that the email address there is different than the email address you see for your principal account, you do have 2 Apple Accounts.

If you do indeed have 2 Apple Accounts, I would recommend that you transfer your purchases to your principal Apple Account (Migrate purchases from one Apple Account to another Apple Account - Apple Support) and that you drop the purchasing Apple Account to replace it with your principal Apple Account. This will you will have a unique Apple account where all the Apple services reside.

steinr98 wrote:

Mac Desk Top/ iPad, Sequoia- 15.7.7. I have 5 different passwords for various Apple accounts - each time I went to use a password at different URLs it would not accept it and I had to create a new password. How do I make one Password to work on ALL apple accounts ? It is a pain to have to try 5 different passwords trying to get in to an account. I never did understand why my original Apple password would not work everywhere.

Thanks!!

Usual would be one Apple Account and one password used for all of that; sharing the same Apple Account across all of your own gear.

If you somehow have five Apple Accounts, pick one, and migrate your iCloud data to that account.

How to “unshare” an Apple ID - Apple Community

There is only one password for a specific Apple Account. This password would work for any Apple Account related service, for instance in Settings > [your name] on your iPad or System Settings > [your name] on your Mac. The same password also works on iCloud.com or accounts.apple.com.

It is possible to have a different account for your Apple purchases but this situation is rare. Most people use the same Apple Account for everything.

steinr98 wrote:

System Settings, Then Apple Account,

The Apple Account (usually an email address, can be a phone number in some places) is shown st the top of the Apple Account info.

- then personal info, then down to Sign in and Security- and so on down the listings-

In Sign in and Security, there is not any place I have or see a password or any Account.

Nor would there be

There is a box to "change a password" but no account or password is listed there.

The account is at the top. You can certainly keep changing the password, but you’ve already established that change is not solving the problem.

If I go to Apple.com and go to sign in, I get this-"Do you want to sign in to store.apple.com with your Apple Account "user@example.net"? Sign In with a Password or, Use a different Apple Account? I cannot sign in using any password I have. However if I use Another Account and put in my email address it lets me in to Apple.

Okay, so you do have multiple Apple Accounts, and which leads me right back to suspecting multiple Apple Accounts are in use here.

Again I do not have any passwords for "MY APPLE ACCOUNT.

You don’t see the passwords displayed for any of the multiple Apple Accounts you’re using.

I have an idea, as I mentioned earlier, In Systems Settings, Under my Name in Sign in and Security there is a change Password box. If I go in and make a new password for my Apple Account- then go into Apple.com and erase all other account passwords- would this work ?? I think I'm getting a headache!!(sorry!!).

if you have multiple Apple Accounts, or if you are using the same Apple Account across devices without using iCloud Keychain to sync credentials, you’re just going to continue to fail, snd continue to be frustrated by stale passwords.

Each time you change that password, or use a different Apple Account, your unsynchronized passwords will be wrong.

How many Apple Accounts here? At least two, apparently. Five?

Are you using iCloud Keychain? (Or is each device using its own saved password info, unsynchronized, as seems likely?)

Link to more info: Set up iCloud Keychain - Apple Support

Also, please don’t post actually email accounts or actual credentials.

When you go to Apple websites (iCloud.com for instance; I imagine what you see on store.apple.com is similar) on your Mac, and you see the “Sign in with password” window, the password to use is your Mac password, not your Apple Account password.

The reason is that your Mac saved the Apple Account password in the keychain. To access the keychain and grab the Apple Account password, your Mac prompts you to unlock the keychain with your Mac password. I understand how this can be confusing.

The process is not as confusing on an iPad as this device uses Touch ID ou Face ID to unlock the keychain.

steinr98 wrote:

My problem is not separate accounts- but different areas I go to, ask for an Apple Password- and I do not have just "ONE" Apple Password- I'm trying to get just one that works everywhere.- thanks-

Where are you entering all these Apple Account passwords?

Entering an Apple Account password is usually fairly rare, outside of specific tasks.

The App Stores, the main idmsa·apple·com website (which includes the login used for Apple Community around here), occasionally as an alternative to a macOS login password, where else?

Do you (not?) have iCloud Keychain enabled? Because if you don't (and don't have some other password manager) each device gets its own password store.

Whether there are multiple Apple Accounts in use is still unclear.

steinr98 wrote:

That is what I have never understood- Going to different urls, it would ask for my Apple Password - and it would not work- so I had to change(redo) my password to a new one. Frustrating ! I shall try your suggestion-Thanks!

Again assuming you are using multiple disparate Apple Accounts across your gear, here are the general sequences for transferring full ownership of common Apple gear to a different Apple Account:

• What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac
• What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad

Moving the user data was linked earlier, though that link with a related but slightly different focus.

Purchases don't transfer, though Family Sharing can allow some purchases to be shared among group members; among the Apple Accounts involved.

6x6 wrote:

When you go to Apple websites (iCloud.com for instance; I imagine what you see on store.apple.com is similar) on your Mac, and you see the “Sign in with password” window, the password to use is your Mac password, not your Apple Account password.

The reason is that your Mac saved the Apple Account password in the keychain. To access the keychain and grab the Apple Account password, your Mac prompts you to unlock the keychain with your Mac password. I understand how this can be confusing.

The process is not as confusing on an iPad as this device uses Touch ID ou Face ID to unlock the keychain.

Furthermore, across multiple devices sharing an Apple Account but not using iCloud Keychain, all those devices will use whatever the Apple Account password was when that password was last updated locally.

MrHoffman wrote:

Furthermore, across multiple devices sharing an Apple Account but not using iCloud Keychain, all those devices will use whatever the Apple Account password was when that password was last updated locally.

That’s an interesting point. Perhaps the root issue for @steinr98 is that their passwords are not synchronized with iCloud.

Why do you have multiple Apple accounts?

Each account has its own password.

They are separate accounts.